Technical Adviser Earth Observation for Livelihoods and Resilience, P3 – Rome, Italy

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

Are you an experienced Climate and Seasonal Monitoring expert interested in further developing your professional experience while contributing to ending global hunger? Are you passionate about helping those in need? Would you like to join a global organization investing in its people?
If so, an exciting & fulfilling career awaits you! Join our diverse and passionate team that works on varied and international projects directly contributing to saving & changing millions of lives around the globe.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Applications must be submitted by Wednesday, August 16, 2023 (10:59 PM CET)

WHO WE ARE

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), is a highly prestigious, reputable & world’s largest humanitarian organization, operating in more than 120 countries and territories, bringing life-saving assistance in emergencies, building pathways to peace, stability, and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change and supporting sustainable and resilient livelihoods for a world with zero hunger.

At WFP, people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled, and high-performing teams, selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment, living WFP's values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity, and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.

To learn more about WFP, visit our website: UN World Food Programme (WFP), and follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news: YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter.

WHY JOIN US?

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
• WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse, and multicultural working environment
• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities
• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world, and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe
• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section)

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

The position is based in RAM-C and reports to the Senior Climate, and Earth Observation Advisor.

Earth Observation data is a fundamental component of the Research, Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) Division analytical activities, providing crucial information products and evidence for food security and resilience related applications (among many others).

This area of work is handled by the Climate and Earth Observation (RAM-C) Team in RAM. Among its portfolio of services and in tight collaboration with the Asset Creation, Livelihoods and Resilience Unit of the Programme Division (PRO-RL), the AIMS (Asset Impact Monitoring System) service provides objective assessments on the implementation and long-term impacts of resilience assets.

AIMS works under a twin track approach that provides not only proof of the assets’ implementation and maintenance over the years using VHR (Very High-Resolution data), but it also provides objective evidence of the long-term positive impacts of the Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) interventions on vegetation cover, soil moisture and expansion of livelihood resources, using a variety of satellite data from MODIS NDVI data to Sentinel-2 biophysical indicators.

AIMS has supported 26 Country Offices to monitor over 2,500 asset creation projects since its inception. In the last year, the Service has expanded its offerings to include access to an interactive platform and the provision of two AIMS indicators to be included in WFP’s core reporting (ACR/CRF). Given the increased consolidation of a subscribing CO base (record subscriptions reached in 2023-24), the plans are now to:

• Expand and diversify AIMS in order to make it a corporate-level tool that operates across all COs that engage in Asset Creation.
• Expand the service to cover the full Asset Creation cycle
• Further develop the Evaluation oriented dimension of AIMS in close articulation with OEV.
• Develop a service for PRO-RF in terms of monitoring of the agricultural landscape in articulation with the crop mapping workstream of RAM-C (TBD)

This guides the overall direction of AIMS expansion and becoming one of WFP’s prominent services for evidence generation and advocacy for corporate natural resource management activities. Potentially, it can become the most advanced operational natural resource management and monitoring service within the UN and beyond. These objectives are to be pursued within a timeframe of up to 4 years, leaving AIMS as a well-established system within WFP corporate service provision for resilience asset and livelihood resource monitoring.

JOB PURPOSE

The role of Technical Adviser on Earth Observation for Livelihoods and Resilience is required to lead the expansion and consolidation of the AIMS service across WFP as well as developing AIMS into a full-stack Asset Creation and Livelihoods design and monitoring service.

The position requires specific and specialized knowledge about state-of-the-art satellite data techniques related to land cover change, as well as handling and analysis of Very-High-Resolution data.

It requires also project management experience and skills to work with commercial VHR data providers, dealing with procurement and legal processes and liaising with a growing number of COs and RBs who must be supplied with a diverse range of outputs with tight delivery deadlines.

The position supervises a team of 4 technical consultants and lead tight coordination with PRO-RL and with the subscribing COs.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Scientific / Analytical Guidance:

• Provide guidance in the development of methodologies and operational processes for the analysis of satellite data with particular focus on analysis of FFA project completion.
• Identify efficiency improvements through adoption of new approaches (DataBridges) and advanced analytical methods in coordination with the Data Science team
• Lead quality assurance on analytical briefs produced and FFA completion reports for FFA locations identified by participating COs.
• Liaise with the Data Science team and others in RAM-C for the formulation of approaches for agricultural land cover identification and mapping

Strategic Direction:

• Formulate the strategy for the AIMS service for the next four years, leading to a wider expansion of the service across WFP.
• Expand AIMS to cover additional requirements, such as specific services to OEV evaluation missions and resilience and livelihoods ad-hoc analytical CO requests.
• Explore the development of additional services such as high-resolution agricultural mapping for smallholder support initiatives in articulation with the crop mapping workstream of RAM-C.
• Define project scope, goals, deliverables and required resources.
• Prepare documents to support resource mobilization.

Project Management:

• Overall management and coordination the AIMS Service from 360 degrees, including, information management, analysis, and product delivery (reports, platform access, trainings);
• Manage the budget and ensure efficient use of financial resources for achievement of set objectives;
• Liaise with the focal points in the Research, Assessment and Monitoring Division as well as relevant departments in the Program Division, Country Offices and Regional Bureaus for regular coordination of AIMS activities including the acquisition and management of FFA project location data;
• Coordinate the development of legal agreements between commercial imagery suppliers WFP Legal and Procurement units to ensure reliable imagery access for AIMS monitoring.
• Lead and provide first level supervision for four or more AIMS consultants to achieve goals that contribute to the growth of the AIMS Service.

QUALIFICATIONS AND KEY REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION:

• University degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, Environmental and Earth Sciences or related fields.

EXPERIENCE:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in in Geospatial Analysis with emphasis on Remote Sensing;
• Experience managing Earth Observation related projects and with people management;
• Experience managing institutional co-operations with both humanitarian and private sector partners and developing legal agreements.
• Experience in a humanitarian or development context is a plus.

LANGUAGE:

• Fluency (level C) in the English language.

MORE ABOUT YOU

You have:

• Proven knowledge of project management of complex earth observation projects, management of large budgets, identification and hiring of staff;
• Capacity to pitch technical projects clearly and concisely to senior management both orally and in writing;
• Good presentation and team working skills, with the ability to follow and develop a given scope of work;
• Proven knowledge of using GIS and remote sensing to monitor humanitarian or development operations;
• Specialized knowledge of GIS and Remote Sensing software (ARCGIS, Q-GIS);
• Experience in early warning and remote sensing (interpretation and analysis) and familiarity with the specialized software applications associated with them;
• Operational knowledge with modern high level programming languages / analytical systems, in particular R and Python as applied to the processing of geophysical data;

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

These are the common standards of behaviour that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Different expectations of behaviour are defined depending on your grade and role/responsibilities within WFP.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

• This is a Limited Fixed Term Appointment. A Limited Fixed-Term Appointment (LFT) position is a non-mobile staff appointment in the international professional category for a limited period for up to 4 years. The position is based in Rome, Italy and the selected candidate will be expected to relocate. ​
• WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package in line with ICSC standards (http://icsc.un.org) including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, visa, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, a pension plan, and medical insurance.

REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

• We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, and complete, and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills, and UN Grade (if applicable).
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application.
• Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language
• Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter
• Additional documents such as passports, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time
• Please get in touch with us at wfprecruitment@wfp.org in case you face any challenges with submitting your application
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.

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WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment.

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.

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